Page 33 of Haunted

“I’m so happy you’re here,” Lanie chirped as she ushered us down a short hallway, which led to the living room where she plopped down on what looked to be an oversized bean bag sofa. Besides the big screen TV mountedon the wall and a wooden coffee table, the rest of the room was empty.

“Did you get robbed?” I asked, setting down a box which held a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, and a couple other grocery items.

“You don’t like my new furniture?”

“That’s not furniture, Lanie.”

“What are you talking about? I think it’s awesome.” Henley joined her, the beans shifting around to accommodate her frame.

“Thank you. At least someone here besides me has good taste.”

“I’ll remind you of that when it busts open and you call me to help pick up ten million tiny foam balls.”

“Whatever. I haven’t decided how I want to decorate yet, so?—”

“So you figured you’d relive your youth?”

She flipped me off, then the girls ignored my presence for the next ten minutes while I carried Henley’s meager possessions to her new bedroom on the second floor. There was only a full-size bed and a dresser inside, but she’d burst into tears when Lanie had taken us on a tour when we’d first arrived. Seeing her so happy over something so simple shredded me. My girl deserved the world and, by God, I was going to give it to her.

I’d just finished depositing the last few items onto the mattress, including an old backpack which had seen better days, when something hard hit the top of my foot. Peering down, I saw an older model iPhone, making me wonder why Henley was using the crappy flip phone if she had one of these. It wasn’t until I picked it up and flipped it over did I see the spiderweb crack taking up the full surface of the screen.

Unsure if the fall and my foot had been the cause of the damage, I kept hold of the battered phone as I made my way back down the carpet-covered stairs.

Lanie and Henley were exactly where I’d left them; side by side on the ridiculous excuse for a sofa with their heads smashed together. They were giggling like a couple of teenage girls who’d known each other for years instead of minutes. When Lanie first offered her spare room, my biggest concern was their personalities wouldn’t mesh. Henley was much more reserved in comparison to my quirky friend, but with the way they’d already ganged up on me over my “lack of taste,” I had a whole new set of worries.

“What are you two laughing about?” I crossed the room, sitting on the edge of the coffee table.

“Nothing,” they said together.

“Oh my God. Where did you find that?” Henley scrambled off the bean bag, snatching the phone out of my hand and holding it against her chest as if it were a precious heirloom.

“It fell out of one of your bags.”

Her watery gaze came to mine and I barely heard her over the sound of my heart thundering away in my chest. “I thought I lost it.”

There was so much devastation in those five words, coupled with the tears tracking down her beautiful face, my need to comfort her overrode any confusion to her reaction. Sliding to my knees, I folded her in my arms where she quietly fell apart.

Long minutes passed before she pulled away.

“Baby.” I brushed away the wetness from her cheeks with my thumbs.

“Sorry,” she sniffed.

“You don’t ever have to apologize to us.” Lanie joined us on the floor, placing a hand on her shoulder for support.

“It was my mom’s phone,” she started, “Even after it broke, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. All of my memories of her are on here.”

I nodded in understanding, then smiled when a thought occurred to me.

“Nelson.”

“Nelson,” Lanie agreed.

“Who’s Nelson?”

“He’s a tech genius, baby. If anyone can retrieve the data on this phone, it’s Nelson Travers.”

“Really? Where do we find him?”

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